One of the frustrating things about discussing American Idol with other people who watch is that this show makes us all equal relative to technical music criticism.
I struggle to not play the I’m-a-musician-and-you’re-not card.
But I’ll be honest. I don’t think any of the Idol women are worth a damn. There is not one great voice [...]

For the past couple of weeks, when asked who I thought brought it and who left it on American Idol, I’ve consistently said “the kid” as my pick to beat.
The kid is David Archuleta, and after Tuesday night’s rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” I suspect all those who shrugged when I issued those sentiments will [...]

When you’ve got it, you’ve got it.
That’s what Simon Cowell told David Archuleta on Tuesday, minutes before he said the same things to Jason Castro and Aussie expatriate Michael Johns.
So, that would be the American Idol Top 3 from boys’ night, right?
Think again. And this year, it’s not just me judging the talent. My sainted [...]

A weekly feature on american-idol-blog.com will be my Top 5 performances of the week, usually posted on Thursdays. Because this week was comprised of Season 7’s first two audition sites, I thought I’d start by explaining how I came up with this ranking.
And, the formula could change week to week. In fact, it will.
The Idol [...]

It’s old news by this point, but the love of my life — Katharine McPhee — was dropped by J Records last week.
What’s peculiar about this decision is that her album didn’t do nearly as badly as Taylor’s, and I still say she had some upside commercially. Singles like “Love Story,” “Not Ur Girl” and [...]

Good news from Simon Cowell, who says that Season 7 of American Idol, which debuts next Tuesday will be one of the best yet.
You didn’t expect him to say otherwise, did you?
However, in a conference call this week with reporters, he says that three or four of this year’s contestants would have gotten recording contracts [...]

Boys and girls, we’re a week away.
But what if this year’s American Idol isn’t even American? Yep, it’s a possibility, as rumors have swirled that an Irish lass has made a big impression on our judges.
However, Carly Hennessy has way more experience in this business than you might believe. As of just a few years [...]

We’re just nine days from the premiere of American Idol, Season 7, and already bad news coming out of the music industry as previous winners Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard have been dropped by J Records.
Not a stunner although Studdard was a fairly decent seller for them early in his label stint. On the other [...]

As we get closer to the debuts of American Idol 7 on Jan. 15, my apologies for not posting this past week. But I’ve got a great excuse: I had no power.
No, I didn’t forget to pay the electric bill. The plains states were hit hard by an ice storm that rendered millions of us [...]

Sitting at No. 18 on the Billboard album chart in its second week, Jordin Sparks’ self-titled debut is already the weakest debut from an Idol winner in history.
But is the CD that bad?
To understand the release’s performance thus far, one needs to understand the ground Idol broke in seasons No. 4 and 5. With the [...]